Wireless computing devices such as, for example, the BlackBerry™ hand-held device by Research in Motion Limited, typically provide users with wireless access to important enterprise information. System infrastructures (or architectures) supporting such devices may generally comprise a wireless network, a carrier gateway, an enterprise gateway (e.g., the BlackBerry™ Enterprise Server or “BES”), and other back-end servers (e.g., Exchange, DB systems, document management systems, etc.), or other components.
Wireless servers, such as Onset Technology's METAmessage server, may be provided to further enhance the features and functionality of known wireless systems (such as the BlackBerry™ system) by enabling users to access and manage information—data from document management programs, voicemail, SQL/ODBC databases, and CRM/ERP applications, email attachments, network files, web pages, contact information, etc.—from their wireless device.
In disaster scenarios, such as that of Sep. 11, 2001, various components of a system infrastructure necessary to access important enterprise information from a wireless device may become unavailable. Connectivity to an enterprise may be lost, or back end systems such as BES and Exchange may not function. While wireless devices and wireless networks (e.g., the pager Mobitex and DataTAC networks) may operate, as was the case on Sep. 11, 2001, they may still be ineffective if other components of the system infrastructure do not function.
Certain wireless devices have a dedicated device number or personal identification number (“PIN”), which may serve as the device's identifier on a network. PINs also enable wireless devices on a network to communicate with one another via PIN-to-PIN messaging (i.e., messages communication from one PIN identifier to another PIN identifier). This form of communication may occur from device to device through the wireless network, and without the need for a carrier gateway, enterprise gateway, or other system or server. This form of communication may also be quite valuable in the event of a disaster or other scenario if various components of a system infrastructure are compromised. One drawback associated with PIN-to-PIN messaging, however, is that a user must typically know the PIN address of the wireless device of a user that he or she wishes to communicate with. This may be an unlikely occurrence, as most users tend to remember e-mail addresses and/or telephone numbers for contacts, and not the PIN addresses of their wireless devices. These and other drawbacks exist.